Mind your Manners

I love that my Daughter usually reports everything that happened to her and what she thinks about it. When she was little it was mostly Why I Bit (establish alpha status. It drove me nuts) or Who Spilled Milk at Lunch. Later it was school drama, boyfriends, college professors and dorm living. I am very lucky that she shares so much of her life with me. And quit biting.

I think of it as The Daily Report with Analysis. Always entertaining.

Now, when she walks in the door, The Daily Report w/ Analysis is usually subtitled What Happened At CNN. Historical Note: Mr. W & our Daughter work there, I used to work there.

Fact: Mr. W can’t even have a soda at work that she doesn’t report to me. It’s pretty funny.

Yesterday she came storming home steaming from her ears.

“So,” she said, pulling a popsicle from the freezer, “how was your day? Me first.” I sat down at the kitchen table to pay attention.

Her task had been ‘Guest Greeting.’ Translation: get the talking head at the security desk, shepard them through makeup, get them Miked and IFB’d (Mike is usually clipped to lapel. IFB goes into the ear so the correspondent, live producer or anchor talks into your head instead of having a face-to-face conversation.). Then she escorts into one of the studios for their airtime, known as a ‘hit’.

This particular day had been extremely busy with the Supreme Court announcement, North Korean nuclear test and California Prop 8 ruling. Plus Israelis and Palestinians were in town for White House meetings. Putting it mildly, there were a lot of Guest Talking Heads to get to air. My Daughter went to the Green Room (guest holding pen with comfortable chairs and a coffee machine) to collect Saeb Muhammad Salih Erakatforhis hit.

He was drinking tea with his assistant and told her “he would go to the studio when he was done with his tea.”

“Well” she said to him “if you want to be on television you have to come now.” Another fact: television is scheduled.

Saeb Erakat remarked in Arabic to his assistant that “this pushy woman is trying to tell me what to do.” He then proceeded to make callous remarks about her anatomy and her “immodesty”. My girl had enough.

She told him IN ARABIC – “I studied Arabic at University and understand every word you and your assistant have spoken. You have lost your mind.”

Sitting in the kitchen, telling me, she still was uber-pissed.

“It was fun watching him crap himself. His assistant choked on his tea. I left them standing with their jaws hitting the floor. In that one moment, all the work I did to earn my degree more than paid for itself.”

Fact: In a television studio, people can hear you. Within seconds everyone in the newsroom knew what he has said to my Daughter. No one offered to help him, so Saeb Erakat had to mike and ifb himself and proceeded to look like a big ole tool on air. Just like he is in real life.

He did track my Daughter down after his hit to apologize. She was polite, but pointed out that he hadn’t been whispering and wouldn’t be apologizing if she didn’t speak Arabic.

She also told him, “That isn’t how women are treated in America.” He and his assistant couldn’t scamper away fast enough.

“He took one look at everyone watching in the newsroom didn’t even go back to makeup to get wiped. Good riddance.”

Hit time is hit time. Watch what you say. Being polite is always the better option.